Rocks
by Kreek
Summary: So, what is Hutch doing, crawling through the sand of a riverbank at a remote location?


Sadly, I don't own Starsky and Hutch. But I sure can have some fun with them! No warnings, just a warm thank you for my beta Cindy E. However, all mistakes made are entirely mine!

It's kind of strange to write a Hutch-story for two Starsky-girls. But my muse, spurred into action by something Strut said, was relentless. Strut, Elisa; this story is for the great time we had in Barcelona… And for all the friendships S and H inspired.

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**"Rocks"  
**(by kreek©november2005)

"No! No! Don't! Please!"

But his captors just laughed, determinedly dragging him towards the ice cold frozen river.

The sturdy, slightly older teenage boy mocked, "Aaw, don't worry… Duluth's not that much different than the coast; all water's the same, you'll see."

Kenny put his feet down in despair. Yes, he loved the ocean, and someday he would see it, would move to the coast and watch the gulls fly by.

And he'd said as much to his sister, in between classes, last Thursday.

Copperfield, the school bully, who'd overheard him talking to her, jerked him around in the hallway, "Water? You like water? Duluth isn't good enough for you?"

He hadn't answered, and the start of classes made him forget the little incident until this Sunday. He'd been walking alongside the river's edge as he did often these days. He loved the sound of the water, the peace and quiet, the sound of birds. No parents yelling at each other, no need to get top grade ratings because his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer, wanted him to earn enough money to keep the Hutchinson estate running. Here, all that didn't exist. Here he was just Kenneth Hutchinson who could be whatever he wanted to be.

They'd jumped him from out of nowhere; Copperfield and his small set of followers. When tried to scream a dirty rag was put into his mouth.

"So, you like the water so much, huh?"

Copperfield's voice sent his feelings spiralling down into a pool of fear. Catching onto the older boy's intention at once, he spat out the cloth.

"No! Don't…!" He started to kick, to squirm, to scream, but they mercilessly carried him onto a small bridge that had no real banisters. The iced over water underneath, which had looked so tranquil to him moments ago, now seemed to reach out greedily towards him. "NO!"

But they threw him in while laughing and yelling at him, "'Still wanna move to the coast, Ken?" There laughs died as the ten year old Ken landed on the ice and crashed right through it. The icy water got into his nostrils, choking him instantly, the cold rendering him numb. He couldn't move, couldn't swim.

The culprits, and any chance of rescue, had left him. Darkness and silence descended as the water closed in… He would die alone. _NO!_ A stubbornness he didn't know he possessed kicked in. There was so much he wanted to do… see the ocean… become a cop… _A cop?_ Yes! That was what he wanted… and no Copperfield was going to stop him. He wasn't going to die here!

Forcing his numb body to life again, he started to struggle, surfaced and got hold of a branch. Sheer willpower made him drag his heavy body up the shore where he lay panting. His stomach rebelled, and he turned his head to throw up the contents of the dirt-filled river. When the retching finally stopped, Kenny vowed he'd never tell this to anyone. He could already hear his father's voice if he were to mention this little escapade to him. "You need to learn to fend for yourself. If you want something out of life son? Take it. I'm not going to spend my time defending a son who doesn't deserve it."

Shaking all over, he got up and made his way home. No, his father wouldn't understand. It was best to suck it up. Maybe he had deserved this. Maybe he was a wuss, like his father kept telling him. _Well, no more_. From this point on… he would start to fight.

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"Lost your marbles, Ken?" 

Hutch, in his thirties now, looked up and groaned. Of all the time and places to run into his one time menace Arnold Copperfield, the school bully from his childhood years. He'd been scrawny back then and shy; an easy picking for a heavy weight like the red haired Arny.

After brushing the sand off his jeans he got to his feet, all the time being painfully aware of the two sets of eyes staring at him. One set displayed genuine curiosity as to what her master was doing down there. They belonged to his beautiful chestnut mare. The other set showed nothing but malicious humor. Copperfield stood as he had. One head taller, secure in his superior strength over the little people, the smaller kids.

"Well… I was just erm..." Damn, this was no time for his long forgotten insecurity to surface. How to explain what he was doing down here, crawling through the sand of this riverbank… at a remote location… on Copperfield's land?

"If you feel the need to plough the fields bare-handed, Ken," Copperfield grinned, "the Hutchinson's estate is next door. Kindly remove yourself to that area." The grin darkened his face, which was edged by the cruelty in his voice, resulting in a mass of wrinkles.

There was a part of Hutch that reacted automatically to that voice, a part that had already turned to leave. That part remembered all too well how Arnold had nearly gotten him killed. He was halfway through the motion when his eyes fell onto the waters of the river and drifted to the little bridge crossing the water a few feet down the bank. Cop's instinct kicked in, and he turned back to face the taller man. The years hadn't exactly been kind to Arnold. Farm work had left his mark on him. He was bold now, and his face looked old, moulded into the vicious look he still carried. "Not that it's any of your business," Hutch started in defiance, "but I was looking for some rocks."

The man looked at him as if the blond had really gone crazy. "Rocks," he repeated and moved in closer.

Hutch stood his ground. "You wouldn't understand," he said, his voice dropping an octave.

"No, I guess not. We're not all as smart as you, are we? We haven't been able to move up to the coast like you have." Copperfield's voice started to sound threatening as he closed in on the blond. With one hand he pushed Hutch back. "You still think you're better than me, don't you?"

Taking a deep breath, Hutch decided that he wasn't going to let the man drag him into that old feud again. Swallowing his pride he pulled himself together, using years worth of police experience. "Look, I don't have time for this. I'm only here for the weekend, and I need to get back to the farm." This time he purposefully turned to leave. He headed for the mare, took the reins and started to walk towards the small bridge, leaving a pissed off Arnold behind.

"Don't you dare walk away, Hutchinson!"

Hutch turned his head and gave him a mocking salute before continuing his way up the sloping bridge. An enraged grunt was all the warning he got. Arnold slammed him onto the wooden deck of the bridge, driving all the air from his lungs. When he managed to look up again, the muzzle of his own Magnum was staring him in the face.

He froze.

"You're not going to get away that easily. Do you know what we common folks have been through all these years while you're playing hotshot cop on the West Coast? No, I guess you were only too eager to forget the hardship of farm life. So… how was the water, Ken? Down in … what was it? Bay City?" He raised the gun.

To Hutch's startling surprise, the man took off the safety. "Now, Arnold…" He reached out with one hand for the weapon, but Arnold used the opportunity to aim for his head.

"Let me see how much you like the water in this day and age. Only you won't be crawling out this time."

Hutch crawled backwards, away from the Magnum. Though he knew it wouldn't do him any good. "You would do that? Shoot an unarmed man? Didn't you already have your laughs when you threw me into that river as a kid? I got damn pneumonia because of it."

"Ken, Ken, Ken… you just don't understand. That felt good, I agree. But from that time on, I wanted more. And I got more… in Nam. You didn't get to serve did you?"

Hutch lowered his arm again, unable to fathom the hatred this man carried for him. He didn't get it. He hadn't seen Arnold for over twenty years, and the man still carried a grudge.

"Answer me!"

"No, you know I didn't. Only son and all…" Hutch quickly stammered.

"There you go, feeling better than us again. Well, while you were sitting high and dry on your throne over here, I was dying in Vietnam. I saw my friends die, one by one."

There it was; the reason behind the man's hatred. "That wasn't my…"

"Oh, no? I bet you know nothing about the real hardship of life, about fear… about having to watch your friends die?"

Hutch almost snorted at that one but stopped himself just in time. He didn't wish for anyone to go through the agonising fear he went through a couple of weeks ago when Starsky got poisoned.

"And when I came back, there was no heroic welcome for me. No… all I kept hearing were these elating stories about you… the smart-ass hero cop! Not feeling too smart now, are you?"

"Arnold…"

"Get up."

Hutch stared at him for a second, contemplating his options. The man had obviously lost it. No amount of talking would get him out of this one. Slowly, he did as he was told.

"Go stand near the edge."

He looked over the edge of the bridge, at the cold water rushing beneath it. It was obvious what Arnold's plan was. The cold water… the fear… the loneliness, it all came flooding back. Hesitantly he took a few steps towards the water.

"Move it! Or do you want me to shoot her first?" he said mockingly, nodding towards his mare.

Inwardly, Hutch shook with unreleased fears, dating back from when he was a kid. Outwardly, he answered in a cold icy voice, "No… I'm moving. Just take it easy… I'm moving." He stepped onto the slightly increased edge of the bridge. "You're not getting away with this, Arnold."

The redhead just smiled, "Who says I want to? I just want my revenge… that's all." The man squinted. "You should have died back then, Ken. I still don't understand how you managed to drag yourself out of the water."

"Lucky, I guess," Hutch couldn't help but say. "Or maybe because I _am_ better than you."

The sound of the gun going off made him close his eyes in reflex. Expecting to feel a bullet ripping through to him instantly, Hutch cringed. A loud splash was all he heard; that and an astonishingly familiar voice.

"He's right, you know!" Starsky yelled at the drowning man beneath the bridge. "He IS better than you, FAR better!"

"Starsk?... Where… how?" Hutch looked utterly confused at his partner who was supposed to be back in Bay City, recuperating.

"HELP! I CAN'T SWIM! FOR GOD'S SAKE, GET ME OUT!"

"Not now, Hutch. I got to get to Mister Brave-heart over there before he wets himself." He hesitated for a second. Hutch caught the worry in his eyes when he asked, "Are you all right?"

He could do nothing but nod.

The brunet took off and headed for the riverbank.

Numbly, Hutch moved over to the mare and started rubbing her nose, while he watched his partner drag a soaked Arnold Copperfield to the shore, locking him in handcuffs before the man had been able to catch his breath.

_If you want something out of life, you just take it._ The words of his father echoed through his head.

Well, his father had been wrong. Worthy or not, Starsky would always be there… and he'd never asked for it, never asked for his friendship or for the loyalty Starsky so generously displayed towards him.

He looked at the water, at his partner moving up the slope, now shoving a dishevelled Arnold towards him.

Heaving heavily with the effort of pushing the heavyweight in front of him, Starsky reached the chestnut mare. "Wanna… tell… me… what… you…were…doing… here… all… by… your lonesome?" He managed to say between gasps.

"Starsky? What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

"Well," the brunet roughly planted Arnold on the floor. The man seemed too shocked to speak. "I had a couple of days of R and R left… so I decided to meet you here. You kept talking about Duluth as if it's heaven on earth. I wanted to see it for myself." He frowned, looking at Arnold. "Your folks told me I might find you here. Looks like I got here just in time."

"Yeah," Hutch said quietly as the events slowly started to sink in.

"So, what were you doing here?"

Hutch shrugged. "You told me you wanted a tangible peace of the place I grew up in."

"So?"

Arnold's rough voice drew both men's attention towards him, "He was mucking about in the dirt."

His partner rewarded him with a raised eyebrow as Starsky turned towards him again. The brunet took him by the arm and pulled Hutch out of hearing distance from Arnold.

"The dirt? You're really weird sometimes you know that?"

"Rocks, Starsky!" he exclaimed with a sigh. "I was looking for a nice solid rock to give you, something from this soil, from my home ground!"

The astonished look on his partner's face was one he would never forget. The silence took forever, but finally Starsky seemed to have found his voice again. "Did you find any?" he asked, his childlike curiosity obviously getting the best of him.

Staring his best friend in the eye, Hutch answered softly, "Didn't have to," he said and turned away towards the mare. "Turned out all this time… I already had one with me."

"You had?" His partner quickly followed him.

"Yeah," Hutch stopped, facing his bouncy partner. "Solid rocks are hard to come by, Starsk." He grabbed the brunet by the shoulder. "Thanks for showing up."

For a second, Starsky seemed at a loss for words.

Hutch took the opportunity to bury a beautifully coloured red and yellow tiger-eyed rock into his partner's hand. "Try not to lose it, huh?"

Starsky stared down at the rock. A grim smile started to light his features. Hutch moved away, but could hear him mumbling softly, "With my life, Hutch… I'll guard it fiercely with my life."

**The end.**


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